444 HENRY DRAPER. 



resiirnation of Dr. Fisher and the inauguration of Dr. Braun, by 

 request of the Trustees he acted as President of the College. In 

 1869, having reached the age of seventy-four, he resigned his chair of 

 instruction. 



The closing years of his life were passed quietly in Clinton. A 

 green and cheerful old age, free from complaint and full of genial 

 sympathy, was his enviable portion. He kept up his studies to the 

 end. His mind was characterized by strength and clearness in all 

 lofical processes. He was a close observer, and much given to reflec- 

 tion. He was deliberate and cautious in forming his conclusions, and 

 believed nothing so important as accuracy and truth. In all his inter- 

 course with men he was conspicuous for candor and simplicity. He 

 uniformly looked upon the bright side of life. A fund of native 

 humor was always at his command, and he loved the pleasures of 

 social life, which he could well enliven with anecdote and repartee. 

 He was singularly charitable in all his judgments. At peace with 

 God and man, he fell asleep in a good old age, leaving the i-ecord of a 

 good and useful life, and beloved and lamented by all who knew him. 



HENRY DRAPER. 



Henry Draper was born, March 7, 1837, in Prince Edward 

 County, Virginia. He died in November, 1882. His father, Professor 

 John W. Draper, early directed his sou's thoughts toward science, and 

 the researches of the son seem to have been the outcome of the father's 

 work. By the death of Henry Draper, the world has lost the accumu- 

 lated scientific experience of two lives. 



John W. Draper began his scientific career as Professor of Chemistry 

 at Boydton, Virginia. It was here that Dr. Henry Draper was born. 

 In 1839 the father was appointed Professor of Chemistry in the Uni- 

 versity of New York, and the son, at the age of fifteen, entered the 

 Freshman Class of the institution over which the father presided. 

 During the Junior year he left college, entered the Medical School, 

 and graduated with the degree of Doctor in Medicine in 1858. His 

 graduating thesis was a valuable investigation upon the functions of 

 the spleen, by means of microphotography. During the process of this 

 work he discovered the use of palladium protochloride in darkening 

 collodion negatives. His work in college, and especially in the Medi- 

 cal School, gave promise of his future distinction. Those who knew 

 him at that time speak of his scientific tastes and of his bright and 

 active mind. • He spent the year aftei" his graduation in Europe, and 



